1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of medical and medical office electrical apparatus, and, more particularly, to medical office electrical apparatus such as are used for performing various routine medical diagnostic tests, such as EKG (electrocardiogram), EEG (electroencephalogram) and EMG (electromyogram) tests on patients.
2. Background Discussion
As is well known, various different types of routine diagnostic tests, in accordance with specific test protocols, are performed on patients by physicians and other medical professionals in doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals and other medical facilities. Some test protocols involve passive testing in which bioelectrical signals are received for analysis from a patient undergoing testing. Others diagnostic tests involve active testing in which electrical stimuli are applied to a patient undergoing testing and the resulting electrical response signals from the patient are received for analysis.
Exemplary of such medical diagnostic tests are EKG tests which receive patient-generated electrical signals which are indicative of the patient's heart condition, and may be used to detect a heart attack, a cardiac arrhythmia, or as part of a routine physical examination.
Another such familiar medical diagnostic test is the EEG test during which a recording is made of patient-generated electrical signals indicative of the patient's brain activity. EEG tests may, for example, be used to determine the nature and severity of a seizure disorder or to assist a physician diagnosis of the extent of brain damage caused, for example, by a brain tumor or trauma.
Other of such diagnostic testing protocols include, without limitation: electromyographic (EMG) tests in which there are obtained electrical signals or impulses associated with the activity of a patient's skeletal muscles, useful in diagnosing neuromuscular disorders; cystometrographic (CMG) tests useful in the diagnosis of urinary diseases; pulmonary function tests (PFT), useful for determining the physiological reserve of a patient's lungs in the presence of such diseases as pneumonia, lung cancer and emphysema; visual acuity and visual field testing, useful in the diagnosis of ocular diseases; limb dynamometry, useful in diagnosing muscular diseases; nerve conduction velocity, useful in the diagnosis of diseases of the central nervous system; evoked potential (EP), useful in the diagnosis of diseases and localizing lesions of the central nervous system; electrostagmography (ENG), useful in the diagnosis of disorders of the central and peripheral pathways subserving balance; and audiometry, useful in the diagnosis of diseases affecting hearing.
Heretofore, as far as is known to the present inventor, each of such medical diagnostic tests have required the use of a separate, dedicated testing machine or apparatus. Thus, by way of illustration, the performing of EKG tests on patients has heretofore required the use of dedicated EKG machines and the performing of EEG tests on patients has heretofore required the use of dedicated EEG machines.
It can readily be appreciated that this prior requirement of having a particular dedicated testing machine or apparatus for each different medical diagnostic test results in various cost-related problems. Not only does the need to have available different, dedicated medical diagnostic machines for each different medical diagnostic test result in considerable expense to properly equip and maintain a medical office, hospital or clinic, but such need for a number of different dedicated medical diagnostic machines also requires the allocation of usually expensive floor space and adds to the clutter of a medical office.
Importantly, in the present climate of medical cost containment and reduction, especially in the area of medical insurance and federal and state medical (e.g., MEDICARE and MEDICAL) reimbursements for medical procedures, the minimizing of medical office costs, including equipment costs, is now more and more important, if not critical, to the medical profession, not to mention the general public.
For these and other reasons, the present inventor has invented a universal medical diagnostic testing system which is sometimes referred to hereafter as a "virtual medical instrument" (VMI) system.
The present virtual medical instrument system enables each of a large number of generally routine medical diagnostic tests protocols to be to be conducted on patients by a single, adaptable system, which is preferably software driven. This new system thus eliminates the need for a different dedicated diagnostic test machine for each different medical diagnostic test protocol to be performed by medical professionals on patients.
In addition to use in the multi-speciality medical office and the reduction in medical office costs provided by this new VMI system, the system also lends itself well to the efficient equipping of small, mobile medical offices, as may be beneficial in public health services, military clinics, in developing nations and mobile clinics in the event of major catastrophes, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist activities.